Pretzel Beer Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

This is a sponsored post by Challenge Butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

If you're looking for a topic everyone can unite behind for the greater good of humans across the globe, I regret to inform you that grilled cheese is not that topic. When I posted my deluxe grilled cheese recipe last year for National Grilled Cheese Day, I quickly learned that many people have very different opinions about whether a sandwich with ingredients other than cheese can even be called a grilled cheese.

So this year as I prepared my segment for National Grilled Cheese Month, I decided to take out the debate completely by only using cheese in my sandwich filling. But of course, I had to make it unique. And this Pretzel Beer Grilled Cheese Sandwich was born!

If I'm being honest, the idea evolved from a lobster roll I had over the weekend from one of my favorite fish places in Indianapolis, Caplinger's Fresh Catch. They use a pretzel roll with their lobster roll which I really appreciate because I feel like pretzel rolls are very underused. Once I decided to use a pretzel roll for my recipe, beer cheese dip was just a natural addition.

But actually, the beer cheese dip which consists of cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and mozzarella cheese works really well in a grilled cheese recipe because it's creamy and it melts well. Also, the shredded cheeses in the dip melt quickly as well.

I sandwiched the beer cheese dip in between two slices of gouda. Gouda will always be one of my favorite cheese to use for grilled cheese because it's extremely flavorful, and it melts really well.

TIP: Avoid "sharp" and "smoked" when picking out your cheeses. Sharp cheddar is aged longer than mild cheddar cheese and does not melt well at all. Avoid it entirely. Also, when you smoke a cheese, it messes with its ability to melt. So avoid smoked gouda, and stick with regular gouda.

Now that we've discussed the best cheeses to use, I'd like to share one more tip: You can make grilled cheese sandwiches for a crowd by cooking them in the oven. Cue gasps! Yes, I said it, it's true. That's why I saved this one for last because I know it would be a bit controversial.

Here's the deal, I hate it when you're trying to make grilled cheese for multiple people on the stove, and no one gets served at the same time. So the first person gets their grilled cheese, and they finish it before the second person is even served. Or their sandwich gets cold while they wait around for everyone else to get served. Cooking grilled cheese sandwiches in the oven solves that problem because you can cook about six to eight sandwiches at the same time. The best way to get the sandwiches to taste like their grilled cheese and not just baked sandwiches is by placing a pan on top while they're baking so the outside of the bread gets crispy just like it would on the stove.



Pretzel Beer Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Yield: Makes about 8 sandwiches
Ingredients

• 8 ounces Challenge cream cheese
• 2 cups cheddar cheese 
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup beer
• 2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 4 Tablespoons Challenge butter, melted
• 8 pretzel rolls or pretzel buns
• 16 slices gouda cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit; place two baking pans in oven
2. Beat together cream cheese, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, beer, dijon mustard, and garlic powder. Set aside.
3. Brush melted butter onto bottom half of pretzel buns; remove one baking pan from oven and place the bottoms of the rolls in the pan. 
4. Add a slice of gouda to each sandwich. Top with 3 Tablespoons of beer cheese dip mixture. Add another slice of gouda and top with other half of bun.
5. Brush melted butter on top of sandwiches.
6. Remove other baking pan from the oven and stick on top of sandwiches. Add heavy objects to top pan to ensure it is weighted down on top of buns, and stick it into the oven.
7. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until everything is melted through.

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Irish Cheddar Beer Soup

This is a sponsored post by Challenge Butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Confession: I’ve never really been one to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Green is my least favorite color, so I don’t have any green clothing items and I always get pinched. Also, like I mentioned last week, I don’t drink, and I feel like that’s a big part of the holiday. So because I feel like I’ve neglected to celebrate it throughout the years, I decided to delve into the Irish cuisine and make something festive this year. This recipe is coming to you a little early because, to be completely honest, I thought St. Patrick’s Day was March 7 — not three weeks from now! Oh well! I hope you enjoy this Irish Cheddar Beer Soup! I’m telling you, what it lacks in nutritional value, it makes up for in taste!

Irish Cheddar Beer Soup
Yield: Makes about 8 cups of soup
Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon Challenge butter or bacon grease if you’re making bacon to garnish soup
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 cans (14.5 ounces) chicken broth
• 16 ounces Irish beer
• 1 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
• 16 ounces Challenge cream cheese, cubed so it melts into the soup more easily
• 2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 
• Optional: Crumbled bacon and green onions, if desired for topping

Directions

1. Set a large pot over medium heat. Add butter, onion, and garlic, and sauté for for about 3 to 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent. 
2. Sprinkle flour and cayenne pepper on top, and stir until everything is coated
3. Pour the chicken broth and beer into pot and bring to boil
4. Add cheddar cheese, cream cheese, dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce to broth. 
5. Whisk to melt the cheese and break up the cream cheese cubes. Continue to whisk at simmer until soup is completely smooth and slightly thickened, or about 10 minutes. 
6. Garnish with bacon and green onions if desired.

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Buffalo Chicken Campfire Fries

Anyone else go on a lot of camping trips as a kid? Every summer, my family would go camping in Mackinaw City, Michigan for a week. It was awesome! We would cook on a campfire and brush our teeth in the woods. But unfortunately, one night we got hit by some pretty bad storms, and our tent flooded and everything was ruined. So we went to a hotel, and I’ve actually never been camping since.

One of my favorite things about camping was cooking over a fire. We cooked a lot of hot dogs and s’mores. Then we discovered these cooking irons, and we made a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches. But one of the biggest problems is there just wasn’t a whole lot of variety. So I came up with a new creation that is sure to register Oooos and Ahhhs among your fellow campers.

Introducing… campfire fries! But not just any fries. Buffalo Chicken Campfire Fries!

I love french fries, and I love buffalo chicken dip. So I thought to myself, “Why the heck aren’t these co-existing already?”

The goal of this recipe was to make it as easy as possible because there’s not a whole lot to work with when you’re camping.

Before you start pigging out on the ultimate camping indulgence food, I just want to address a few things. The chicken I used in this recipe came from a can because like I said, the goal here is easy. But if you’re choosing to make this at home or if meat in a can is weird to you, use whatever chicken your heart desires.

Also, just to be clear, don’t cook this directly over the fire. Cook it on a flat surface of hot coals. Cooking times may vary but the good thing is nothing is raw here so you don’t have to worry about getting sick. You just want everything to be heated through so it tastes delicious.

P.S. If sleeping outdoors makes you want to run far away in the other direction, you can cook this on the grill or in the oven.

Buffalo Chicken Campfire Fries

Yield: Comfortably serves 4 people

Ingredients

• 1 pound frozen french fires
• 1 cup chicken, diced
• 1/2 cup buffalo sauce
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup blue cheese
• 2 green onions, chopped

Directions

1. Lay out two large sheets of aluminum foil and spray top layer with nonstick spray.
2. Dump frozen french fries onto aluminum foil and fold into a packet. The top can be open.
3. Cook over hot coals for about 15 minutes.
4. While fries are heating, combine chicken and buffalo sauce.
5. Carefully remove fries from coals and add 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, buffalo chicken mixture, the remaining cheddar cheese, and the blue cheese.
6. Return packet of french fries to hot coals and heat until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

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Deluxe Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

I’m a sucker for a good sandwich. In my opinion, texture, flavor and color are key. And even though grilled cheese sandwiches can be as basic as you want them to be (think Kraft Singles and Wonder Bread), I think they deserve the same love that every other sandwich receives.

Bread

So let’s first discuss the bread. It should be thick enough to securely hold all of your toppings, but it shouldn’t taste like you’re just eating a mouthful of bread.

My favorite bread to use for grilled cheese is sourdough. It’s just the right thickness and it doesn’t have a very strong taste, which is great because we want the flavor of the cheese to stand out.

Butter or Mayonnaise?

In the past week I’ve learned that some people prefer to spread mayonnaise instead of butter on the outside of the bread before cooking it in the pan. Apparently, it’s supposed to make the outside of the bread crispier.

I tried it, and I don’t like it. I say butter all the way! I always use Challenge butter in the pan beforehand in addition to spreading it on the bread. Challenge butter is 100% real cream butter without any hormones, additives, or fillers, and I think it makes a big difference in the taste.

Cheese

Cheese is obviously the most important part of the grilled cheese sandwich. I don’t recommend using more than two types of cheese at once because you don’t want the flavors to overpower one another. If you do use more than one type of cheese, make sure they complement each other and pair well before you stick them on a sandwich.

If you’re stuck in a rut and you’re looking to try something new, Kareen Stephens, Brand Manager at Schuman Cheese, shared some advice on her favorite cheeses for grilled cheese sandwiches.

She says soft cheeses work really well and offer a fabulous melt.

“Our Cello Fontal has a smooth, creamy texture with a mild flavor that offers an amazingly gooey melt. Asiago is also great for melting and has a nice sweet and balanced flavor. One cheese that is sure to upgrade any grilled cheese recipe is Tallegio, which has a strong pungent exterior that reveals a delicious buttery soft cheese inside,” Stephens said.

Since a lot of the soft cheeses have a mild flavor, she recommends pairing them with cheese that has a sharper flavor like Copper Kettle Parmesan and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Toppings

I don’t think you should go “over-the-top” with toppings because like I said earlier, you want the cheese to be the main focus.

Bacon and prosciutto are always good choices. I also love adding fried egg with a nice runny yolk to dip it in. And I love the texture of avocado on a sandwich.

Deluxe Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Yield: 1 sandwich

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons Challenge butter, divided
• 1 egg
• 2 slices sourdough bread
• 2 slices sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 slices bacon
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• 2 slices gouda cheese

Directions

1. Add 1 Tablespoon butter to a skillet on medium heat. Once melted, add an egg and cook for two minutes on one side before flipping it to cook on the other side. Cook one minute longer, and remove from pan and set aside.
2. Add another Tablespoon of butter to skillet and let melt. Use 1 Tablespoon to butter one side of a single slice of bread and stick butter side down in skillet.
3. Add 2 slices of cheddar cheese, bacon, avocado, fried egg, and 2 slices of gouda cheese.
4. Spread 1 Tablespoon of butter on second slice of bread and add it to top of sandwich, butter side up.
5. Cook sandwich for about 4 minutes on medium heat and then use a spatula to flip it to the other side. Cook an additional 3 minutes on the other side and serve immediately. 

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Freezer-friendly pizza bagels

This is a sponsored post by Challenge Butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

In my opinion, staying busy is a good thing. It means you’re doing something and accomplishing something and working your and staying active.

But this year I think that maybe I’m stretching myself a little too thin.

I finished my chemistry class last semester and moved on to anatomy this semester. This is my first time ever taking an anatomy class, and as I’m sure you all know, it’s really hard!

Between class and work and my Kylee’s Kitchen segments, I don’t have a whole lot of free time. And when I get home at the end of the day, I want to eat right away. I don’t want to worry about cooking something and waiting an hour.

So I either prepare all of my dinners for the week on Sunday or I pull out a meal from the freezer. Keeping your freezer stocked with homemade meals is one of the best changes you can make in your life. You’ll spend less on takeout, you’ll eat healthier, and you’ll save time.

I’m sure you all know what frozen pizza bagel bites are, but I promise you these pizza bagels put those bagel bites to shame.

Just like pizza, you can customize the bagels however you want. This is great for people with food allergies and maybe need to use dairy free cheese or gluten free bagels. It’s also a great idea for anyone trying to lose weight because you could curb your pizza craving by using 100-calorie bagels and fat free cheese.

Personally, I recommend assembling an abundance of pizza bagels at once then only bake the ones you’re going to eat that night and freeze the rest for later.

The best way to freeze these pizza bagels is to individually wrap them (before or after cooking them) in Saran wrap and then put them all in a gallon freezer bag. When you’re ready to eat one, just pull it out of the freezer and bake as normal. If you put the bagel in the freezer already baked, you can just pop it in the microwave.

Pizza bagels are really a non-recipe recipe because you just add whatever ingredients you want to your favorite bagel, but regardless I’ve provided 4 of my favorite ideas.

Margherita Pizza Bagel

Ingredients

• Bagel
• Pesto
• Mozzarella cheese
• Tomato, sliced
• Basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil, parchment paper or baking mat.
3. Split bagel in half and place split-side-up on baking sheet.
4. Spread pesto on each bagel half.
5. Top with Mozzarella cheese, tomato, and basil
6. Bake for 10 minutes and serve.

Pepperoni Pizza Bagel

Ingredients

• Bagel
• Pizza sauce
• Mozzarella cheese
• Pepperoni
• Parmesan cheese
• Oregano

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil, parchment paper or baking mat.
3. Split bagel in half and place split-side-up on baking sheet.
4. Spread pizza sauce on each bagel half.
5. Top with Mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, Parmesan, and a little oregano.
6. Bake for 10 minutes and serve.

Sausage Pizza Bagel

Ingredients

• Bagel
• Pizza sauce
• Mozzarella cheese
• Sausage
• Basil 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil, parchment paper or baking mat.
3. Split bagel in half and place split-side-up on baking sheet.
4. Spread pizza sauce on each bagel half.
5. Top with Mozzarella cheese, sausage, and a little basil.
6. Bake for 10 minutes and serve.

Four Cheese Pizza Bagel

Ingredients

• Bagel
• Pesto
• Challenge Cream Cheese
• Mozzarella cheese
• White Cheddar Cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil, parchment paper or baking mat.
3. Split bagel in half and place split-side-up on baking sheet.
4. Spread pesto on each bagel half.
5. Top with Mozzarella cheese, white cheddar cheese, and Parmesan.
6. Bake for 10 minutes and serve.

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Spinach Artichoke Pretzel Skillet

This is a sponsored post by Challenge Butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Dips are undoubtedly the heart of every Super Bowl party. If you search the definition of Super Bowl in Merriam Webster, the actual definition is “an excuse to have a party with lots of dips.”

But with so many people bringing dips to your Super Bowl party, how do you make your dip stand out?

Your cast iron skillet is currently in the back of your cupboard raising it’s hand and saying “Pick me! Pick me!” That’s right—a cast iron skillet is the secret to transforming an ordinary dip into the coolest appetizer at the party.

Cast iron skillets have obviously been around for centuries. But I’ve noticed that they have become very very popular in the past year. They are extremely versatile, and I love that the skillet is used as both the baking dish and the presentation dish.

I made my first dip with a cast iron skillet last month and it was a huge hit. My favorite part about the Spicy Cheese Pretzel Skillet is that the dip and the pretzels baked together in the same skillet. The soft pretzels were extremely easy to make (store bought biscuit dough for the win), and ultimately that’s what made the dish look deceptively stunning. So I decided to try the same concept with this skillet artichoke spinach dip. The creamy and cheesy dip with baked-in pretzel dippers is what dreams are made of.

In my last skillet post I went into great details about the science behind homemade soft pretzels. So this week, I’m going into great detail about the best practices for taking care of your cast iron skillet.

First of all, the best time to clean your cast iron skillet is immediately after using it. You can’t be a set-aside-to-soak kind of person. Soaking the skillet is one of the worst things you can do to it because it will rust.

Instead, immediately after you’ve removed all the food from it, wash your skillet by hand using a sponge or a stiff, non-wire brush. Don’t use soap! If there is food stuck to the pan that won’t come off with water, scrub it with a mixture of salt and hot water.

Completely, dry our skillet immediately after you’ve finished washing it so it doesn’t rust. I recommend heating the pan over your stovetop burner on high for about 5 minutes to ensure it’s completely dry.

After drying, add a thin layer of oil to the pan to keep it well-seasoned.

Store your cast iron skillet with a paper towel on it to absorb any moisture and protect it from dust.

I realize this entire post is about cast iron skillets, but I do want to point out that you can still make this delicious dip as well as the pretzel bites without a cast iron skillet. Just bake the dip in an oven safe dish and bake the pretzel bites separately on a baking sheet.

Or if pretzels aren’t your thing, you could buy a big loaf of bread, hollow it out to make a bread bowl, and then use the inside scraps to dip—similar to what I did with this Buffalo Chicken Stuffed French Bread. Enjoy and Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Spinach Artichoke Pretzel Skillet

Ingredients

For the dip

• 4 cups baby spinach
• 14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained
• 8 ounces Challenge cream cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons dill
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce

For the pretzel bites

• 1 can refrigerated biscuit dough
• 4 cups water
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• Egg wash (1 egg mixed with 2 Tablespoons water for brushing on dough)
• Sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions

For the dip

1. Place spinach in a bowl with 1 Tablespoon water and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
2. Microwave on high for 1 minute; leave covered 15 minutes to cool. Drain spinach well and add to medium bowl.
3. Chop artichoke hearts and add to bowl.
4. Add remaining dip ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

For the pretzel bites

1. Generously oil or butter your cast iron skillet.
2. Open can of biscuit dough, cut each pre-sliced biscuit into quarters, and roll into balls; set aside.
3. Bring water and baking soda to a boil in a small saucepan. Drop biscuit dough into boiling water and let cook for one minute. Remove biscuit dough from water with slotted spoon and transfer to cast iron skillet, forming a ring along the inside edge.
4. Brush biscuits with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Transfer spinach artichoke dip to center of skillet.
6. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until pretzels are golden brown and dip is bubbly.
7. Let skillet cool about 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

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